Good news though if you use Last.fm on Windows Phone 7 and Xbox--it's still free for our side. Oh snap.

Yes, as it turns out Last.fm is switching their ad-based revenue system in for a paid, monthly subscription one. From the Last.fm blog Matthew Hawn, Last.fm's VP of products said:

On the Last.fm website an ad-supported, free-to-listeners model is what supports our online radio services in the US, UK and Germany. In other markets and on emerging mobile and home entertainment devices, it is not practical for us to deliver an ad supported radio experience, but instead, we will migrate to what we believe is the highest quality, lowest cost ad-free music service in the world.

Subscriptions will run $3 a month and you non-MS folk can sign up here. Regarding Windows Phone 7 and Xbox, Hawn said:

Last.fm Radio will remain free on the Last.fm website in the US, UK and Germany and for the US and UK users of Xbox Live and Windows Mobile 7 phones (through 2011). We’ll also continue to offer radio for free via the Last.fm desktop app.

No word on the exact reason as to why Microsoft services are unaffected, but we imagine MS has some deal behind doors allowing the exception. Hey, it's our win.

This is great news, I just hope it's true, as I got an email today which stated "From February 15 you will need to be a subscriber to listen to Last.fm Radio stations on devices, including your Windows Phone 7 app."

Are all of you US or UK residents? Because that's the catch here...Sounds like an error on their email list as opposed to their official blog. We'll see what happens.It makes sense Xbox & WP7 together would be excluded.

I've got the opposite to report, this is an extract from an e-mail I received today:We want to share with you an important update about our radio service: From February 15 you will need to be a subscriber to listen to Last.fm Radio stations on devices, including your Windows Phone 7 app.No other features are affected by this change. In taking this decision, we have given a lot of thought to how this impacts some of our early adopters and long-time users like you. We truly appreciate what you have meant to our growth and success, and offer you the following as a token of our thanks;

I got an email from last fm today saying that from February 15th you will need to subscribe to listen to last fm on your android AND windows phone 7 app and because of this they have gave me 3 Months free starting from the change over.So your saying it won't change for wp7 users but there saying it will???????? Confused.

In a Q&A with Matthew Hawn, VP of Products at last.fm he states:"...MS has subsidised the radio experience...Xbox Live customers are paying for a great set of gaming experiences and Last.fm was a great fit for them."So it will remain free for Microsoft products because of deals already in place.http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-02/07/lastfm-mobile-streaming